Content Creation Process: How to Save Time in Writing New Articles

Content creation has always been a rather time-consuming task. It consists of many different phases including researching, planning, writing, editing, revising, and analyzing the results, so authors are seeking ways to cut this time at least in half by all means.

Considering that six out of ten content marketers compose at least one piece of content every day, according to eMarketer. By learning several simple things to cut the time spent on content creation, you can save yourself a few days of work every month. Sounds terrific, doesn’t it?

And if sometimes you feel frustrated with how much time content marketing takes, remember that content strategy is vital to your business for several reasons:

DemandMetric reported that according to their estimations, content marketing costs 62% less than other types of marketing but it brings about 3 times as many leads.

More than three-fourths of all CMOs believe that high-quality content is at the core of future marketing, states DemandMetric.

The most experienced and effective B2B marketers dedicate at least 39% of the budget to content marketing, says the TopRankBlog.

Finally, CMI reports that around 85% of successful companies have a special employee in charge of the content marketing strategy and that is the reason for their success.

As you see, there is no way around content marketing. So, stop trying to avoid it and learn how to make it work for you. The good news is that you can spend less time developing a strategy with our simple tips. So, learn them now – and see how they can save you another day or two!

8 tips on how to cut time developing the content marketing strategy

Have a content calendar

Do not try to come up with brilliant ideas for a whole month in one day. It takes time. Therefore, you need to gather all of the great ideas you have and organize them in a calendar that you will use when creating content.

Having a calendar is a great idea because you get to see the big picture of your content and analyze how well one thing flows into another. Besides, you do not need to come up with ideas on the spot, as you can take two previous ones, for instance, and create the third one that will be the continuation.

Finally, you can mark which topics are already taken, oversee the progress, and plan your next steps inside this calendar.

If you are looking for tools to use for this matter, consider checking CoSchedule, Crackerjack Marketing, Vertical Measures, and BlueWire Media. All of these guys have something useful to offer you.

Use smart ways to research the topic

You might spend ages at this stage as well. It takes time to analyze what your potential target audience wants to read as well as which topics are in high demand at the time being.

That is why you need to use special tools to save your time at this stage.

Among the tools you can use are Social Crawlytics that lets its users analyze the most widely-used URLs of some websites, Buzzsumo that helps you analyze the best and most effective content of your competitors, Topsy which aims to assist you in finding the most popular videos, tweets, links, photos, and influencers, and SEMRush that can tell you the exact keywords your business rivals use most frequently.

Just by using these instruments, content strategy creation will no longer be such a pain in the neck. So, try them!

Make the posts shorter

To optimize the content creation process, you need to learn how to create shorter posts. Do not leave important aspects out of your articles, but rather learn how to put all the vital information into the space available.

For example, sometimes you can use an infographic instead of words to demonstrate what you mean. People tend to like images more (and they share posts with bright visual aids more frequently). So, it is even more beneficial.

Besides, you can use examples to explain complex notions in a simple manner. And finally, edit the text once you finish writing it to see which parts can be cut without hindering the overall meaning of the piece. As you learn to convey your message in a concise form, you will see that composing an article is not such a difficult process.

Say “No” to distractions

Sometimes it is not writing that takes so much of our time, but the distractions that steal our focus.

That is why specialists recommend working in an environment that contains no distractions. You may have heard about an idea of a gadget-free desk. It means that your desk (if you are working at the office) should have no gadgets on it or anywhere near it.

The thing is that a person checks their phone at least 150 times a day (and you can check that by installing the Checky app). But once you put it somewhere out of your reach, you will have no temptation to check it so frequently.

Besides, try to stay focused on one task without checking your social media profiles, getting lost in the favorite book, etc., as when you try to do it all together, you hinder your productivity, lose too much time, and get no pleasure from doing any of these tasks.

Set proper goals

Before you get down to writing, you need to form a clear vision of the task in your mind.

Is it supposed to be a brief story or a long read? Do you want to back up your words with scientific research or provide an example from your own life? Are there supposed to be images or this post will do without them?

Answer these questions first to make sure you realize the scale of work to be done here. You might be investing time into an article only to cut it in half in the end after revision. But this time could have been saved by setting the correct goal from the beginning.

Learn the process

You need to have a system you stick to. You should start with the research for which you can use the tools we mentioned above. Automate the research process, find good sources to refer to in your writing, and start creating an outline. Mention all the important points you want to cover in your text but only mention them. It’s not writing yet.

Then proceed to create your first draft. Do not be afraid to make mistakes here, as you will have time to revise the article later.

Once all the ideas are conveyed in the first draft, move on to the next step which is revising. Start with checking grammar and punctuation, then read the text out loud to make sure that all the ideas are connected and flow well. Finally, have someone else read it and give you feedback on the piece.

Once you create a system for this process, you will be surprised by how much easier it is in reality!

Write at the specified time

Do not start writing as soon as you come up with an idea. Set a specific time to write the articles and remember the deadlines.

Having scheduled time for writing can help you keep this responsibility in mind. You will not have to burn the midnight oil to complete the task on time, as you will always be informed about it.

Upgrade the existing content

Sometimes you do not even need to create new content but rather update the existing one. Add new numbers, refresh the statistical data, and insert information topical at the time being – and voila! You have got a new great article you can start promoting!

That is what marketing giants do all the time. With all the new customers, marketing funnels and trends to keep up with, they cannot afford to create new content all the time, so they re-work their old ones. They make it flawless without spending too much time on idea generation.

In other words, you can create a better version of what you already have, make sure that it has great value, and post it in your blog once more.

Content creation can be your key to running successful marketing campaigns. However, even though it is seen as the core marketing strategy by many leading professionals, it takes time. A lot of it. So, you need to master the art of cutting the time needed for it in half.

In this article, we gave you a step by step instructions on what you can do to save time in creating new content. If you value your time, then these tips will be of much help to you. So, why not use them?

And a question to the content marketing gurus: what do you do to save some time when composing a high-quality content? Your insights are very welcome here!

Bio: Christina Battons is a creative writer and content strategist who researches and writes content at professional development, web content strategy, and more. I love to share my knowledge in my publications, for example, https://eliteessaywriters.com/blog/narrative-essay-topics/ and love discovering new ways to use my writing as a tool to further the education of others. You can connect with me through Twitter. I’ll be glad to hear from you!